Let Go
by LikeLavender
Summary: He heard her call to him over the crash of the waves against the sand where he stood holding his dress shoes in his fingers. The water saturated in the ground was making his best black socks soaked on the sole. “Come on, Troy! For once, let go!" TxG
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: Hi, so I'm not really sure what inspired this, but I knew the whole story the moment it fell into my brain, so here it is. It's most likely going to be a two-shot with a shorter epilogue. I hope you enjoy it!

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He heard her call to him over the crash of the waves against the sand where he stood, holding his black dress shoes in his fingers. The water saturated in the ground was making his best black socks soaked on the sole.

"Come on, Troy! For once, let go!"

She waded deeper into the water, lifting her already wet, heavy taffeta gown above mid thigh. She was laughing with her head flung towards the cloudy, grey sky as another wave pelted into her chest. Troy made no indication he was going follow her, and his feet had begun to sink into the sand from standing still too long. When he first saw her earlier in the night this is not what he had expected.

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At eighteen, Gabriella left Albuquerque midway though senior year due to yet another transfer that her mother's job had deemed necessary. She promised earlier in the year that they would be staying in Albuquerque at least until Gabriella's graduation. They didn't. Instead, Gabriella's house was packed and loaded before she was able to take her finals for first semester, and that was that. Troy remembered the Gabriella he met in high school as a cautious girl, always aware of what she said and how the way she spoke might affect other people. She never let something miscalculated slip from her mouth. It wasn't with malevolent intentions; it was just Gabriella's defense mechanism. She told Troy in later months at East High that she never expected to stay anywhere long enough make friends so she did the next best thing: she avoided causing a scene, avoided making any enemies, and avoided drawing attention to herself. At least until she ended up at East High. On her first day, in her first class, she became the primary interest of one Troy Bolton. Troy Bolton – captain of the nationally ranked East High basketball team and as far as the East High girls were concerned, nationally recognized for hotness, too. Needless to say, in that first hour of school, Gabriella acquired two things she had planned on avoiding: enemies and attention. After awhile though, Gabriella accepted the animosity she received from most of the female population. It was easy when Troy Bolton, captain of the nationally ranked East High basketball team and _globally_ recognized for hotness was her boyfriend.

That was the Gabriella Montez that Troy had known – quiet at first, constantly respectful, and always, always so astonishingly intelligent. Bits of her were the same when he saw her again for the first time eight years later; her hair was still long, black, in full, cascading waves, and she was still just as short, only pushing about 5'5" with heels on her feet. Her eyes, however, that was where it all seemed to change. Her eyes were alight with a fire that Troy had never seen before. He saw her first near the bar, talking to a group of men dressed in tuxes, who were clearly enamored by her charm as they were laughing heartily. The man closest to Gabriella, who Troy admitted to himself somewhat begrudgingly was the most handsome, began to lead Gabriella away from the others by the small of her back. Troy felt the old but familiar feeling of possession dart from his stomach to his fist. He stepped across the large wooden floor where some couples were already dancing and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hello, Miss Montez."

Gabriella spun around, humor from the joke she had told still shown in her eyes as they met Troy's, but then there was recognition and then there was surprise.

"If you'll excuse us, Charlie."

The man whose hand had, until moments ago, been pressed to the small of Gabriella's back tried to protest, but it was no use and he knew it. He stalked away to rejoin the group of men still standing around the bar.

"Hey, Troy. Or am I to call you Mr. Bolton?"

Troy chuckled, "I think Troy will be just fine, Gabriella."

Gabriella's gloved arm linked with Troy's and she began to lead him to an empty, white linen covered table, only stopping to grab two flutes of champagne. She gave the waiter a kind smile and turned back to Troy. "Ah, but Troy, I don't recall saying that it was acceptable to address me by my first name."

"Er-, I just assumed that if you called me Troy…"

Gabriella giggled and patted Troy on the forearm, "Kidding. I was just kidding."

"Oh."

They sat down across each other at a round table meant for four, though the two empty seats seemed either abandoned or never previously occupied.

Gabriella rested her elbow on the table and let her chin fall into her open palm, "So what brings you here?" Her legs were crossed with her foot gently shaking in the air and the light reflecting from the crystals on her shoe shone in Troy's eyes.

Troy looked off to the right and saw the man Gabriella was with previously, talking with an older couple near the stage. He swallowed and suddenly felt the need to seem equal to Gabriella. "I'm sure I'm here for the same reason you are, Gabriella. My date is mingling at the moment, however." He waved his hand vaguely to a large group of attendees.

Gabriella laughed lightly as she took a small sip of champagne, "Come on Troy, I know you aren't here with anyone. You would never leave your date at a function like this, it's too improper, and you're too much of the gentleman."

Troy tried to fight down the color he could feel rising from under his bowtie to his cheeks and chose not to acknowledge her comment. He took a long drink of the champagne and waved a waiter over to refill his glass.

"So who was that man? Charles was his name, was it?"

Gabriella looked to her right out the giant windows towards the ocean and flicked the crystal flute with her index finger. "Charlie's just a friend…not even. He's the son of one of my mom's coworker's, really. I think my mom told him to keep an eye on me."

For a moment they were silent, the clear note of the champagne flute ringing the only sound between them.

"Let's leave, Troy. I want to go on the beach."

Troy took one look at the determination in Gabriella's eyes and downed his second glass of champagne. "But Gabriella, the auction is just about to start. Isn't it important that we bid? That we donate to the cause?" Troy looked around the table for a sign of what exactly the benefit auction was for, "That we donate for overseas aid to Kenya?"

Gabriella threw her arms in the air dramatically, "Why not just write a check. I don't need any new art, do you?"

Troy glanced up to the stage where the auctioneer was getting settled, "Well…no, but-"

"So let's leave." Gabriella was already standing up and reaching for her purse under the table, and so, they did.

----

"Come on, Troy! For once, let go!"

Troy sighed and looked up at the grey, September sky, "Isn't it freezing?" he yelled back.

She turned around to face the beach, still taking steady steps farther into the ocean, "Super freezing!" she called. "Just get in!"

Troy shrugged off his black suit jacket, unclipped his cummerbund, untied his bowtie, and took off his belt. He dropped his shoes next to the small pile of clothing now at his feet and took a tentative step forward. The seawater left over from a wave washed over his feet soaking both his socks completely. Sand had begun to collect at the hem where his pants had gotten damp and was rubbing unpleasantly on his ankles.

"It's better if you just do it fast. Like a Band-Aid," Gabriella shouted, now only visible above her shoulders.

Troy followed her instructions and hurried into the water. She wasn't kidding, it was freezing – the kind of cold that feels more like it's burning until numbness overcomes everything. Finally, when the water was up to Troy's chest, the burning dissipated and he stood still, letting the tide push and pull him gently. Gabriella swam around him in circles, or at least attempted to – the material from the dress was weighing her down. Troy was shivering. Gabriella stopped swimming and came to stand next to him. Troy could feel the current graze bits of her dress against his shins.

"Do you ever wonder why I never called you after I left?" Gabriella held up some seawater cupped in her hands and let it fall down his shoulders and chest, causing his white button up shirt to become fully soaked, now see-through.

Troy stared down at Gabriella, his hair only partly wet so it looked as though it was dyed both black and dirty blonde. He nodded his head slowly, up and down once.

"Because, Troy. What we had then, it wasn't real; you were just like me. Carefully crafted, perfectly placed, burdened by our parent's expectations." Her voice got deeper in imitation, "Get into a good university. Get a scholarship. Make the grades. Make us proud."

"Is it different now?" Troy asked, lifting Gabriella at the waist to keep her head above the water as a wave that had yet to crest passed them at Troy's shoulder. The strength of the wave pushed Gabriella's chest into Troy's. He reddened and looked away from her eyes.

Gabriella relaxed completely into Troy's hands and fell back-first into the water, wetting her hair to the scalp before standing straight again. "It is _so_ different now. No parents, no expectations…it's different now."

Troy set her down so her feet once again touched the ground, "Hmm."

He wasn't enthusiastic about their current situation, shoulder deep in the cold Atlantic Ocean, but he surely wasn't disappointed by the fact that Gabriella's arms hadn't moved since he lifted her, and were currently wrapped around his neck, or that his hands were still holding her tight at the hips.

Gabriella drummed her ice-cold fingers against the side of Troy's neck, "Okay, that's fine, I can start. Now that it's all over, now that there are no more expectations about your future am I still something you could want? Could I be more than a finishing touch to your perfect resume?"

Troy pursed his lips in a way that made him seem guilty, though Gabriella ignored his hesitation completely; instead she tucked and untucked the hairs behind his ear. She wasn't entirely wrong in her assumption, Troy thought. His dad had approved of Gabriella, yes – he was ecstatic, actually. A transfer student with no friends, but an almost genius level intelligence; she was perfect for making an impression on those teachers who would be soon enough writing Troy's recommendations. But that wasn't what made Troy want to be with Gabriella, nor was it what made him ask her out in the first place.

After a moment, Troy answered decidedly, "Yes."

Her drumming fingers traveled from the side of his neck to his lips. On instinct Troy kissed them. Gabriella's eyes shot to Troy's as his lips connected with her fingers. It was a strange feeling, looking into the same stormy blue eyes she had for so long associated with a boy she once knew, blue eyes that now belonged to a man. Troy had grown up, most definitely.

"Hmm," Gabriella said as she let her arms sink back under the water. They were at the point where the water seemed warmer than the air around them and the wind was making goose bumps appear on her shoulders and collar.

"Your fingers taste salty," Troy said, still holding tight to Gabriella's waist. Gabriella smiled softly, and for the first time that night Troy thought he saw the Gabriella that left him in Albuquerque all those years ago. As soon as the thought came to him, it was wiped away by an action that the Gabriella Troy had known would never have done. Gabriella pulled Troy's neck down and pressed her lips against his. Troy froze, for once not because of the water temperature, but simply because for the first time in eight years, Gabriella Montez's lips were on his. They continued to kiss languorously, never taking it farther than the occasional slip of the tongue, until a particularly strong wave passed them and splashed into their mouths. They pulled away gasping and spitting seawater.

Troy laughed, "Your lips taste salty, too."

"Hmm," Gabriella said, "So do yours." Gabriella's right hand left Troy's neck and found his hand resting on her hip. She pulled it out of the water and kissed his index and middle finger. "And so do your fingers."

Minutes passed and they stood pressed together in the water, both of them shivering, though Gabriella tried to hide it more than Troy.

"And I suppose it's my turn to ask a question now?" Troy asked.

Gabriella let out an involuntary shiver, "Yeah, I guess it is. Let's get out first, I'm cold."

Troy held back his question as they waded through the water until they were both standing on the shore once again. Abruptly he asked, "What happened to you, Gabriella? You're so different. You're wild."

"I didn't go completely crazy." Gabriella said, completely nonplussed by Troy's accusations, "I'm just not living for anyone but myself anymore."

Troy watched her as she spun around in circles, flinging drops of water from her hair and dress here and there. The sun had started sink below the horizon and as the last few rays of daylight hit Gabriella the remnants of water left on her skin began to sparkle, making it seem as though she was glowing.

"That's selfish, Gabriella," Troy said in a tone so reminiscent of the way his parents used to speak to him.

She stopped spinning and stood, swaying slightly in front of him. The bits of light brown sand that clung to the bottom of her dress contrasted heavily with the once-navy-now-black fabric. "I know," she spoke these words with no sense of hesitation, of guilt. "I know," this time when she said it there was a clear tone of acceptance within her words. "But isn't it about time? Isn't it about time for both of us?"

Troy noticed then, that Gabriella looked nothing short of exhausted. Exhausted from swimming, maybe. But definitely exhausted from this masquerade she had been putting since the beginning of her education. He felt a sudden surge of sympathy for Gabriella and picked up his jacket to quickly swing over her shoulders. She must have been freezing; he could see her goose bumps from feet away.

"Why?" Troy asked stepping away from her again, "What made you decide that?"

Gabriella sighed, slid her arms into Troy's jacket, and started wringing out the water in her hair, "I graduated from Stanford, I went to med school at Dartmouth – I did exactly what my mother expected of me. Now I'm taking a break. And judging from the fact that you were invited to this benefit I'm assuming you did exactly what was expected of you, too?"

Troy nodded, "I went to UPenn, played ball, majored in business, and now I work in New York."

"So no break for you then?"

Troy squeezed the excess water out of his shirt; it looked stretched and wrinkled where he had been pulling. "No break for me. I work at an investment firm and my boss is an old friend of my dad's. Do you live here in Maine?"

"Yeah, for the time being. I work at the library."

Troy smiled; it was the perfect job for Gabriella, really. Her voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Aren't you tired of it, Troy?"

Troy shrugged, "I don't know, I'm paid well and my parents are proud of me."

"But are you happy?"

Troy stared at Gabriella and then at the large benefit hall where the windows had turned a golden color from lights shining within and the darkening sky outside. No one had ever asked him that before, at least not with the goal to really know the truth.

"No, I suppose I'm not."

Gabriella rubbed her hands up and down her arms in an effort to warm herself. "I think in life, first and foremost, you should do something that makes you happy."

"Is that what you did?"

Gabriella laughed and kicked out her dress where it had begun to stick to her legs, stealing her warmth. "It's what I'm _doing_. I like working with books. I like the way they smell, the way they feel. I like watching children discover the magic of reading. It's just as exciting to me as diagnosing an illness."

She was standing in the sand soaked to the bone, wrapped in his jacket, and talking about the library when Troy realized how much he had missed her. He missed hearing her voice; watching her speak with her hands, the tinkling sound of her laugh, he missed just _looking _at her. Her hair was still dripping on his jacket despite her efforts to dry it, and she didn't look a day over twenty. Sure, she had changed a little. She had filled out a bit, but in all the right places. The grace and natural elegance she possessed as a teen only seemed to have been honed and perfected. To be honest, Troy was quite enchanted. The same way he had been the first moment he laid eyes on her that day in Mrs. Darbus's classroom.

"Come on, Gabriella, I'm freezing." Troy strode quickly over to her, reached for her hand and began pulling her away from the crashing waves and the steadily encroaching tide.

"Where are we going now?" Gabriella asked, pulling Troy's jacket tighter around her waist.

"We're going back to your place, of course," Troy answered, a smile tugging his lips. "If we're letting go now I might as well forego the whole part about me asking you if you want to get out of here."

"Mmm," Gabriella agreed and let the side of her head lean against Troy's wet upper arm as they made their way barefoot back to his car.

The Gabriella that Troy remembered before tonight was much easier to handle. She would never have left an important benefit on a whim to go jump in the ocean still wearing her pearls and an expensive dress. She wouldn't have kissed him, regardless of their history, the first night of seeing him again. But somehow, this new attitude she possessed made all the trouble, all the freezing, worth it. If this was the person underneath the shell Troy had known in high school he was more than willing to deal with her spontaneity. Even if it meant jumping into the ice-cold Atlantic Ocean and ruining his best pair of black dress socks.

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**AN: **Hi! Thank you so much for reading, and now if you could be so lovely, click that little green review button and tell me what you thought!


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Hi. So first off, I want to thank all of you who reviewed, favorited, or alerted! Your interest and thoughtful comments mean so much, so thank you! Sorry about the wait, but here's the second chapter of Let Go. I hope you guys enjoy!!

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Troy and Gabriella reached her house with relative ease, though halfway there a misty drizzle began to fall, making the few people they passed on the street look hazy around the edges. By the time Gabriella opened the door to her apartment, both were anxious to get out of their drenched and now completely frigid clothing.

"I'm not sure if I have anything for you to change into, Troy. Come with me and we'll check."

Troy followed Gabriella down the short hall to the last and only door on the right, which lead to the master bedroom. The room's walls were painted a warm sage green, the bed was made and the pillows were set in all their correct places. Apparently Gabriella's neatness hadn't been lost in her search for independence. As Troy looked around the room, Gabriella entered her walk in closet and began rummaging through drawers and in between hangers.

"Oh, here!" Gabriella exclaimed, "I forgot I had these." Gabriella threw Troy a white cotton t-shirt, a green zip up sweatshirt and some navy blue basketball shorts. He held them in his hands and was suddenly overcome by the bleak realization that there had been others. Gabriella hadn't been his and his alone. It was silly to overlook it – he had been with other women, many other women, actually. Why would she remain single? Why would she remained untouched?

Gabriella's voice caught his attention and he looked up, "Troy, could you help me with this?"

Troy lifted his eyes from the shorts and sweatshirt bunched in his fist and trailed to the sleeve of his jacket now thrown carelessly on the comforter and up to Gabriella whose back was facing him. He could see her reflection in the full-length mirror she was standing in front of and she gave him an encouraging smile. As she pulled her wet hair over one shoulder the intricacies of her dress became apparent. Up the entire back of the dress was a line of small, satin covered buttons.

"I can do it myself about half way down, I just need you to unbutton the top half."

Troy moved forward on instinct, mostly due to his years of basketball training. Even during the most terrifying games, where his team was sure to lose he was still able to go out there and play his best. Troy got the same nervous feeling before he played those games as he did when touching the first button on Gabriella's dress. He released each button one by one, his knuckles grazing the bare skin of her back as more of it was exposed. Her skin looked and felt the same as it did when she was eighteen – smooth, warm, and completely flawless. Once the buttons reached the middle of her back Gabriella briskly thanked Troy with no hint that their closeness had affected her, and walked into her closet. Troy noticed as he stood there, still comprehending what had just happened, that she had not bothered to fully shut the door. Unable to help himself he glanced to the left where he could see Gabriella standing in the poorly lit closet wearing only her nude strapless bra and black, lace-edged briefs. Her back was to him and pooled around her feet was her dress that appeared incredibly similar to the ocean they had been swimming in minutes ago. It looked as though she was debating what to wear. Troy suddenly felt like a teenager again and scolded himself as he quickly changed into the clothing Gabriella had given him. She may be different now, she may have let go, but Troy was sure she would slap him if she knew he had been watching her change. After a few minutes, Gabriella emerged from the closet with a pair of yoga pants, a t-shirt, and her wet hair now in a high ponytail.

"I don't know about you, but I'm still kind of cold," Gabriella said with a smile. She lifted his jacket from the bed and hung it on her doorknob to dry. "How about some coffee?"

Without waiting for an answer she walked into the hallway leaving Troy in her wake.

In his haste to change clothes Troy had no opportunity to take in Gabriella's apartment when he first entered. In high school Troy spent his fair share of time in her bedroom, which was light, pastel, and very girly. Her apartment now was similar, but different. It still had obvious feminine touches - a bouquet of mixed flowers was sitting on a table by the door - but it was more refined, more…adult. The apartment itself was modest, Troy was pretty sure there were no other bedrooms besides Gabriella's and on the way to the kitchen they walked through the decent sized living room furnished with a dark wood coffee table sandwiched between a medium sized flat screen television and a cream colored upholstered sofa. The kitchen was clean, bright and small. On one wall there was a little open counter space with the fridge and oven pressed against it. Along the other side there was a large cut out that allowed the living room to be visible, and two tall cupboards on either side. On the third and final wall was a little table with two chairs and a window where Troy could see the glowing lights of the town below.

Gabriella gestured to the table, "Sit. I'll get the coffee started."

Troy sat down somewhat tentatively, unsure what would occur next. He looked down at the faux wood table where two plastic salt and pepper shakers that had clearly been stolen from a diner rested. Gabriella was bustling around the kitchen for the coffee grounds and filter. Troy heard cupboard doors shut and the faucet turn on to fill the coffee pot, but he remained stationary. Finally, Gabriella sat down in the second and only other chair and the gurgling of the coffee maker filled the otherwise silent room. Troy took a peek at Gabriella. Her hand held her chin as she gazed out the window, no visible tension in her body. Apparently, Gabriella found the fact that Troy, whom she hadn't seen since high school yet kissed less than an hour ago half frozen in the Atlantic, and was now sitting in her kitchen neither strange nor disconcerting. In fact, Troy thought Gabriella's body language seemed extraordinarily relaxed.

Gabriella closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose, "I love the smell of freshly brewed coffee, don't you?"

Troy couldn't believe it. There were a million thoughts running through his head (what were they doing, why did she kiss him, and what was the point of all these "what was I to you" questions?) and all Gabriella wanted to talk about was coffee.

"I don't know," Troy started, "the smell kind of reminds me of continental breakfast at hotels."

Gabriella's eyebrows furrowed. "Me too. Is that not a good memory for you?"

Troy shrugged, "I guess it's a good memory, it reminds me of college basketball and traveling with the team."

"I see," said Gabriella in an understanding tone.

For most, the memory of a time where they were able to travel and play the sport they loved would be pleasant, if not thrilling. But it wasn't for Troy, and Gabriella must have understood that. The smell of coffee reminded Troy of basketball, which reminded Troy of his parents, and therefore his obligations. Despite Troy's acceptance of what his parents expected of him, deep down, maybe, even subconsciously Troy did not appreciate it.

The beeping of the coffee maker cut their conversation short and Gabriella went to retrieve mugs. Without bothering to ask, Gabriella returned with two mugs of black coffee. She handed Troy his but remained standing, choosing to instead lean against the counter tops on the adjacent wall.

"So, you're an investor now, huh?" Gabriella asked, though Troy thought he detected a hint of humor in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"And that's what you really want to do? I mean, when you went to college is this what you planned on? Do you love it?"

Troy shrugged and took a sip of his coffee, "It's not really about if I love it or not, is it? I got my degree and this is what it's made for. I told you before, it's what my parents wanted and I make good money, so who am I to complain."

With a roll of her eyes Gabriella responded quickly, "You also said that you aren't happy. I think happiness is the most important goal in anyone's life." Troy tried to answer back but Gabriella kept going, "I know, I get where you're coming from, Troy, but I'm telling you – you'll be so much better off doing what you love instead of what is expected of you."

Troy looked up at Gabriella, standing there against the counters in her too-small kitchen. "What made you quit, Gabriella?"

"Quit listening to my mom's orders?" Gabriella clarified.

Troy nodded, "Yeah."

"I told you, I went to med school and after that I was tired. I wanted a break, so I took one."

"But why Gabriella? What made you stop doing what your mother wanted _then_? Why after med school instead of after your internship, or even after your bachelors."

Gabriella stilled; the way Troy would have if he knew a lie had caught up with him. She swallowed hard and finally sat down at the kitchen table across from Troy.

"When you asked about Charlie earlier today…I wasn't completely honest with you."

Troy's eyebrows rose high enough so that Gabriella couldn't see them underneath the mop of hair covering his forehead.

"He was more than a friend of my mom's. Charlie was my fiancée. We were engaged."

Despite the scalding hot coffee that had, until then, been warming Troy inside and out he suddenly felt ice cold all over again. Engaged? Gabriella? No, it couldn't be, it was unbelievable, it was ridiculous. Troy lost track of how many minutes passed before he managed to find his voice and could speak.

"How long?" He croaked.

Gabriella observed Troy, gauging his reaction apprehensively. "A while. He proposed a little less than a year ago."

"And when was the wedding expected to happen?"

"Two Saturdays from today."

Troy whistled, "Short engagement, huh?"

Gabriella gave him a bitter smile, "It's what Charlie and my mother wanted."

"That implies that you didn't…so what made you put your foot down?"

Gabriella sighed and once again turned to gaze out the kitchen window. "I'm not really sure what triggered it entirely, but when our wedding invitations arrived and I saw my name printed next to his in this block print black lettering, I knew. From age nine I knew that I had wanted a script, something flowy and Edwardian for my wedding invitations, and as trivial as it sounds I knew then, in that moment at his kitchen table looking down at those hideous invitations that I didn't want to be Mrs. Gabriella Murdock."

Troy snorted at Charlie's last name, though he tried to cover it up by lifting his coffee cup to his mouth to fake a drink.

"So I told him, right there, that the wedding was off. For the first time in years I did something for me, and just for me. It felt so good, I felt free, so I thought…why stop there. And then I left. I moved out, out of his house, out of LA and went to Maine. It's just about as far away from Southern California I could think of."

Troy tapped his fingers against the ceramic of his coffee mug and snuck a surreptitious glance at Gabriella's left hand gripping her own cup – no ring. Gabriella was once engaged. It wasn't unbelievable, it wasn't ridiculous: it was fact. Suddenly, there was a question Troy needed answered. "Charlie's from Los Angeles?"

Gabriella nodded her head still not looking at Troy, "Yep."

"Then what was he doing here?" Troy asked, a bit of dread lining his voice.

Gabriella smiled and finally turned to meet Troy's eyes. "I wasn't being completely dishonest when I told you he was keeping an eye on me. He wants me to come back to LA and resume our wedding plans."

Troy's face turned stony, "But you said it was off. You said no." He gestured to the missing ring on her fourth finger, "You gave him back the ring."

Gabriella smiled a knowing smile laced with frustration and a tone that clearly said 'you have no idea', "I did, however, he seems to think it's just cold feet."

"That's outrageous! Does your mom know he's here? How did she feel when you canceled the engagement?"

"She knows he's here, I think. How she feels, to be honest I haven't the faintest idea. I haven't spoken to her since I moved out here." Gabriella stood up to refill her mug and remained standing.

Troy's brows furrowed and he leaned over the table closer to her across the kitchen and began in a whisper, as though about to tell a precious secret, "Gabriella, why? That's so stupid. Regardless of what she has asked of you before, she's your mother, and no one can replace her."

Gabriella merely shrugged and stirred her new coffee with a finger.

"Gabriella you should talk to her! You need to talk to her! Maybe she doesn't know about that Charlie guy. Maybe she'll think it's ridiculous, too!"

As soon as Troy began to raise his voice Gabriella became defensive. "What does it matter to you, Troy!? I haven't seen or spoken to you in eight years and now you're giving me advice on maintaining my relationships!? That doesn't make sense, Troy. This is none of your business."

Troy wanted to argue Gabriella's reasoning and give his rebuttal, but instead he remained silent. He could hear her taking deep, shaky breaths as she leaned against the counter and waited until they became even again before he responded to her.

"When I said I wasn't happy before…it wasn't because I think my job isn't fulfilling, or because I'm angry at my parents for not giving me the choice to decide my own career." He took a large gulp of the black coffee Gabriella had poured him: it was cold now. "I've been unhappy for eight years."

Gabriella had been looking into the black depths of her own cup of coffee when Troy began speaking. "Oh?"

"Do you know what happened eight years ago, Gabriella?"

Troy watched Gabriella fidget uncomfortably as she attempted to sip some of her coffee. She moved away from Albuquerque eight years ago, away from him, that's what.

"We graduated high school?" She asked.

"Yeah," Troy said his voice tinged with anger, "That and you left." Troy paused and gave her a pointed stare from across the table. A pointed stare that began cold and hard and ended soft and sad. "Gabi, you didn't even say goodbye."

She pushed herself back against the counter and set her mug down quickly. She grumbled something under her breath ran both hands roughly through her hair. "Why should I have come to say goodbye? I told you before that what we had before didn't count. You said yourself that I was just another piece of the puzzle back then."

Troy set his mug on the table too hard by accident causing some coffee to slosh out onto his hands, he swore under his breath and hastily wiped it off on the basketball shorts Gabriella had given to him.

"I never said that Gabriella, you misunderstood. It was true, yes, that my dad approved of you. He saw what dating you could do to my reputation, but that's not what made me talk to you in homeroom, or sit with you at lunch when you were all alone. I did those things because I liked you," there was a pause where Troy caught her eye, "I never stopped liking you. So yeah, it does matter to me that you're not speaking to the only person who has been a constant in your life."

Gabriella stared out the window in silence and after a moment she began laughing. It was quiet at first and grew in a gradual crescendo until it was full blown hysteria. Finally, after a few minutes she was able to get her laughter calmed to an occasional giggle.

"Come on, Troy. If calling my mom matters so much to you that you lie, I'll do it." She giggled again and made her way to grab the phone from the living room.

"No, Gabi, you come on! I know! I know that despite this act you're putting up now, you liked me back then. You keep talking about what I could have gained from having you as a girlfriend in high school. About how you were just a tool I used to get things, but what did I do for you? What advantages did you gain from dating me? Nothing! I didn't make your school life easier, I ended up making it harder, more complicated."

At this Troy pushed his chair roughly back against the wall and quickly approached where she stood. He pressed his palms to the edge of the counter on either side of her narrow frame to cage her in, and then in whispers he spoke.

"But you said yes when I asked if I could sit with you at lunch on our first day of junior year, you said yes when I asked you out for the first time three weeks later, and you let me kiss you after showing me the kittens your cat Scooby had in the closet. Yet now, when I'm telling you with no other motive than the truth, that I like you, that I never stopped, you hesitate."

His eyes searched Gabriella's face, whose giggles had died completely the moment his arms touched the cool surface of her counter tops. She was looking up at him in a mix between astonishment and hope. "You remember Scooby?" Gabriella asked, her brows furrowed in disbelief.

Troy chuckled softly, "Of course I remember Scooby, Gabriella. She was your favorite." He moved in closer to Gabriella and let the tip of his nose gently drag across her forehead, down her bridge until it was resting squarely against the tip of her own.

Gabriella's eyes had fallen to their feet and she giggled in spite of herself, "She was."

One of Troy's hands left the counter and found Gabriella's cheek. He tipped her chin up to meet his eyes. Gabriella was spectacular, he decided. She did something to him, more than the typical 'x makes y a better person' cliché. Gabriella made him more daring, made him more true to the very core of his wants and desires. He felt it briefly in high school before she left, and now even with less than twenty-four hours in her proximity under his belt, he felt it again. Gabriella makes things happen to him, magic things. Things that make Troy stand up for what he believes in and for what he feels is right. Things that make Troy invite himself over to her house, or tell her that the Charlie situation is ridiculous. But most importantly, things that make him brave enough to tell her exactly what he's thinking. Right now.

"All today you've been telling me to let go, Gabi. You've been telling me that happiness is the most important. So now I'm going to. Right here, right now, I'm letting go and finding my happiness. I'm going to quit telling myself that hoping you and I can still be together is foolish. I'm going to quit telling myself not to try to look your number up on the white pages website. I'm throwing caution to the wind tonight, Gabriella. I'm going to tell you that I want a second chance at us."

In an almost instantaneous response Gabriella answered, "Okay."

"Okay, then," Troy said with a smile and bent down to capture her lips in his.

* * *

**AN: **Yay!! I hoped you liked it as much as I liked writing it. This is pretty much it though. I like the feeling of open interpretation and imagination for the reader. But, if my muse allows I might right a little epilogue if you guys are interested...let me know!

And because I am a totally asshole and forgot to mention it in the first chapter _thank you so so so much to both my wonderful beta-readers. _You guys are so amazingly helpful and I don't think its possible for me to say it enough. :) THANK YOU!!


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